Wasps

[jerneeon]

Okay, now we're being invaded by wasps. They've got their little nests all over our house and yard. Anyone got any ways of getting rid of the nasty little pests? My daughter is afraid to bring her children outside.

[Ramblin Wreck]

When children are around, that makes it a different issue, but at my place I just let them be. They are predators of other "bad bugs". There are chemical sprays that will kill them, and I've seen people use torches to singe the nest if they didn't want a chemical solution. You can always just keep knocking the nests down too. They will find a different location. Good luck.

[thebugguy]

What kind of wasps are they? Do they make paper or mud nests? The paper wasps (what I always called hornets) can be mean and nasty. The quickest, easiest way is to get some sort of long-distance spraying can of RAID and give them a good zap. The mud nest wasps are pretty much harmless- they don't build large colonies and they aren't aggressive.

[manfred]

Years ago they really freaked us out. (To use a 60's term). But not we let them be > I have been told that their main diet is spiders. We never get stung. I think you practly have to try to pick one up to get stung by them.

[Red Devil TN]

Find my thread in here about wasps (iirc I have a pic in there too). We were bombarded this spring with hundreds bouncing around. That settled to about twenty nests that I can easily see/ walk by during the day. I've swatted them midair when they bug me, no stings (thus far), and otherwise they seem to leave me us all alone. If they were yellowjackets on the other hand...-squish-.

[DixyDoodle]

Ok now what's the difference between yellow jackets and hornets (those that build the paper nests)? Do yellow jackets build nests? Are they in the ground? What is an easy way to tell the difference? Some hornets I notice are very large---are those the yellow jackets?

DD

Try these. They work really welland cheap and easy to make.

http://www.pestcontrolcanada.com/INSECTS/wasp_traps.htm

[mrglock27]

Both yellowjackets and hornets build paper nests. you usually dont see the yellowjacket nests because they are usually underground, but last year I had a yellowjacket nest in my garage attic. The nest looked similar to the big round hornet nest except it had about 20 one inch round bumps on it. Yellow jackets are black and yellow and smooth Bald face Hornets are black and white and super aggresive. The paper wasps that build the little "honey comb" looking nests are not aggresive.

[SteveD(TX)]

"The paper wasps that build the little "honey comb" looking nests are not aggresive."
I beg to differ. I've been attacked by these little beasties while minding my own business well away from their nests. I've received stings from red wasps, yellow wasps, and black wasps in the last few years. Don't even see them coming, usually no nest around (although the yellow wasp nest admittedly was under a staircase I was climbing up).

[Lynne]

I put moth balls in the feed room and garden shed to keep them out. Found out that you can use Brake Klean to shoot them in flight. If they are in a bad place like next to the feed pan in the barn I go out out night and distroy the nest after a good dose of the brake klean. There is just some places that they don't need to build.

[jerneeon]

They are in paper nests and there are TONS of them EVERYWHERE!!

[DixyDoodle]

Are there any good wasp repellents? I called the pest control place about this and they said no. They only have sprays to kill wasps after they've built. Do mothballs work? Anyone have any other things to repel them before they start to nest?